The super luxury car manufacturers, Bentley Motors and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars are gearing up to expand their operations in the Indian automotive market. Volkswagen AG which owns Bentley Motors is planning to increase its dealerships in the Indian market. According to Bentley, the Indian market is the second most important market after China and has aggressive plans to capture the elite customer base which is just 0.01%. On the other hand, Amy Arora, brand director at distributor Exclusive Motors Pvt. Rolls-Royce has already stated that BMW AG is planning to triple their number of showrooms to 6.
The World Bank has projected an estimate that the majority of the Indians live below the poverty line however, CLSA comments that the number of millionaires in India would grow from 173,000 in 2010 to about 403,000 in 2015. The Indian affluent community is now looking for something beyond Mercedes Benz and BMW. They have a higher income and so want more luxury. This is where brands like Bentley and Rolls-Royce come in.
Bentley recently sponsored the current month’s Indian Masters Polo Tournament which has remained a very favourite pastime for the maharajas a century ago. Similarly Rolls-Royce also promoted its cars at the Jodhpur Polo Tournament. The Rolls-Royce has much deeper roots in India with the connection running since the time of Independence. It has also been predicted that the number of super-luxury cars including Ferrari, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Bentley and Rolls-Royce models sold in India will jump to about 800 by 2020, compared to 180 last year.
Source – SFgate